Children's Vision Month

Oct 2015

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 0 of 7

S u p p l e m e n t T o T h e W I N N I P E G F R E E P R E S S | S a t u r d a y , O c t o b e r 1 7 , 2 0 1 5
EAST ST. PAUL
EYECARE CENTRE
3000BirdsHillRoad,EastSt.Paul
Call 204.663.7564 for appointments
WWW.EASTSTPAULEYECARE.CA
NOW NOW
OPEN OPEN
AfullserviceprofessionaleyecarecentreservingEastWinnipegandruralEastManitoba AfullserviceprofessionaleyecarecentreservingEastWinnipegandruralEastManitoba
View online at
winnipegfreepress.com/publications
CATCH VISION
PROBLEMS EARLy
A
child's first visit to the optometrist can be an eye-opening
experience for some parents since significant vision
problems might already exist.
As president of the Manitoba Association of Optometrists, Dr.
Kelsey Bruce urges parents to get their children's eyes checked before
they begin school. First appointments can be scheduled for babies as
young as six months. If there are no problems, they can return at age
three followed by annual appointments.
"It's so imperative to have your child come in. You might never think
your child has a problem, but you don't actually know until we shine
the light in their eyes and figure out if they need glasses," Bruce says.
"If there's anything we can do to make their life easier and make
the learning process easier for school, that is just a win-win all the
way around."
Thanks to a nationwide program called Eye See... Eye Learn
®
, which
is offered to school divisions across the country, it's even simpler to
encourage early childhood visits to a doctor of optometry.
Throughout school divisions that have signed up for the program,
parents receive a form recommending they schedule a full eye exam
for kids before they start kindergarten.
"This is one of the really great programs that we've been working
with," Bruce says.
"We're checking for glasses. We're checking eye health. We're
checking eye muscles. It's not a screening test. It's a full eye exam."
Parents might not be aware of vision problems because children
likely don't know anything is wrong with how they see the world. But
an optometrist might discover conditions such as astigmatism, far-
sightedness, near-sightedness or lazy eye.
"When a child goes to school without the proper prescription for
their vision, their challenges to be able to learn are huge," Bruce says.
The good news is that many vision problems can be resolved if they
are discovered in early childhood.
"If you don't catch them early enough, they become permanent.
After a certain point, their eye and their brain have made that
connection, which is probably solidified around the age of seven or
eight. But if you get them when they're younger, you can help fix that,"
Bruce says.
VISION
MONTH
CHILDREN'S
By Jennifer McFee For the Free Press
continued on page 2
Dr. Kelsey Bruce, president of the Manitoba
Association of Optometrists.
Photo by Darcy Finley
"If they're coming in too late, that weak
eye or amblyopia becomes permanent. It's so
much harder to deal with and it is preventable.
With glasses, their weak eye might have been
strengthened and their vision improved to
20-20. After a certain time, their vision will be
reduced for the rest of their life, even if they
have glasses."
Setting her sights on the future, Bruce hopes
even more Manitoba school divisions will sign
up for the Eye See... Eye Learn
®
program.
"A lot of times, they send students off for
expensive cognitive tests in schools when